Comcast Data Usage Meter Launches

By Jason Livingood
|
Dec 01, 2009

Today, we announced the pilot market launch of the Comcast data usage meter in the Portland, Oregon area. After a short period, we’ll roll it out nationally. It’s designed to be simple and easy to use and will help customers better understand how much data they consume in a month. (Note: the median usage for Comcast’s customers is about 2 to 4 GB per month.)

The meter is accessible by logging in to Customer Central at http://customer.comcast.com and clicking on the "Users and Settings" tab. From there, click on "View details" in the "My devices" section (located toward the upper right hand of the screen) and that will go to the meter page. As you can see from the accompanying screen shot the meter will show usage in the current calendar month when it’s first launched. Over time, it will show the most recent three months of use (including the current month). The data is refreshed approximately every three hours.

The meter measures all data usage over a cable modem. So, if a customer is using multiple computers and other devices, such as an online gaming console, "over the net" VoIP applications or devices, or additional wireless devices (such as an iPod Touch), the meter will report data usage for all of those computers and devices combined.

This is a tool we promised to provide, and we are pleased to deliver it today after rigorous employee testing and the completion of an independent analysis conducted by NetForecast, Inc. If you’d like to see NetForecast’s report on the system, click here.